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More from RedtailFox
Chapter 6 of my story. I should point out that the MCF was founded in the 1960s and the equipment is from all eras and mostly surplus from larger nations such as the US and Russia.
Ch.1 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852145
Ch.2 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852148
Ch.3 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852159
Ch.4 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852172
Ch.5 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2856405
Off the coast of Calia
7.30 AM
Two ancient Fletcher class destroyer of mid-1940s vintage drifted through the morning, it’s mighty engines thumping out across the mild ocean swell. To her old hull was grafted the most modern of fire control, radar, sonar and Phalanx defence system. Despite all the newer weaponry, the MCFS Kingston and the MCFS Crusher, were still aging ladies and had been used as a heavy patrol boat for their entire careers with the MCF, having been purchased from the US Navy mothballed fleet and refurbished ten years prior.
Captain Chant, an Otter, leaned on the railing next to the bridge, staring out over the waves as a magnificent sailing vessel came into view. It’s massive sails billowed and filled the sky as it came near to the two destroyers who couldn’t have been of greater contrast. Captain Chant and his XO, Commander Gunston, another Otter, raised their binoculars to their eyes and surveyed the Frigate as it approached, its name written in gold.
“Vendetta” Captain Chant said as he read the name,” What a name for a ship.”
“Indeed” Cmdr Gunston replied as he lowered his binoculars,” they are flying the flag of Calia so I guess we have to let them pass.”
Captain Chant could see the Captain of the other vessel looking at them through a telescope and could see the confusion and worry on his face as he failed to recognise the two strange, smoke breathing monsters heading towards him. He raised his arm and waved to the captain of the sailing vessel as it drew near, he had to give the captain credit, he was holding his course rather than fleeing from the two destroyers. As evident by this sailing vessel, the people of this realm were ahead in some technologies than they would normally be in this era, Cannons poked from it’s hull sides and were also mounted on the deck, only primitive little cannons but well ahead of their time.
The ship was ahead of its time too, no Frigate in the modern forces timeline would have been built for another one hundred years but these people had them.
The Captain of the Frigate lowered his telescope and waved back, still showing signs of confusion and worry on his face as the vessels passed each other. The Frigates Captain’s face broke into a smile when he saw the Calian flag flying beside the MCF one. The crew started waving and cheering as they now realised that they were not alone it their sea battles against the forces of Lord Biesty. The pirates had been dominating the sea lanes for the last few years and they regularly travelled with Dark Mages onboard, able to call up fierce storms or dead calm weather, causing the King’s navy to become stranded and then become easy pickings. Their vessels were also covered in iron plating that stopped the cannonballs from the Royal Calian Navy cannons.
Captain Chant watched as the Frigate glided by, almost wishing that it was his ship, being an avid believer that the proper way to move a ship was wind and sail rather than steam and diesel propulsion as on the two destroyers. As the Frigate disappeared astern of the Destroyers, the officers returned into the Bridge, Captain Chant returning to his cabin while Commander Gunston took over the duty watch. As Captain Chant walked through the narrow passageways of his sixty plus year old warship, he felt like he was at home. To him the steel walls and deck plating seemed to vibrate life and the gentle thrum of the engines seemed to vibrate from every surface, this was his ship and he was glad it was allowed to have a new lease on life as opposed to being just a patrol ship, it was acting closer to its original wartime role for the first time since it had been struck off.
Chant entered his small cabin, large in its day but smaller than the same cabin on the newer warships. While sometimes he did wish he had something bigger at his command, he knew what the Kingston could do and loved and respected the survivability and the base firepower of this Second World War veteran. The firepower of this aging lady was excellent in it heyday and was still fairly potent n the modern age, made so by the introduction of high tech fire control systems and long range harpoon missiles, as well as two phalanx mounts alongside the main AA battery, still individually manned for challenging smaller boats as well as helicopters. Chant removed his boots and lay down on the bed, quickly falling asleep after his last shift.
On the Bridge, Cmdr Gunston watched through the bridge windows as the seas started to get choppy, nothing the Kingston and the Crusher couldn’t handle, they had sailed through a cyclone and came out unharmed. The old destroyer’s bow sliced smoothly through the waves as it ploughed on towards the horizon, smoke belching from its stacks and spray striking the bridge windows. The two ships were heading for a small port town to conduct anti-piracy patrols and to send a message to any of Lord Biesty’s spies; the Royal Calian Navy will no longer sit idly by and allow his pirate raiders to run rampart, the war had been joined. To be honest, Cmdr Gunston was not expecting any trouble with the contemporary forces, their wooden sailing vessels and flimsy iron plate armour couldn’t hope to sand up to the Harpoon missiles and the five five-inch guns of the main battery.
For the next two hours, everything went smoothly, no contacts on the radar and no serious bad weather either, allowing the ships to steam at their maximum speed and close the distance between the ships and the port fairly rapidly. With no real air threat, the Anti-aircraft gunners were leaning on the railings, waiting for anything interesting to happen to break their growing boredom. As the two ships entered the port of Indos, the world seemed to stop, the locals stoping their current tasks and turning to watch the new arrivals, taking in their great size, their large guns and the strange flag flying beside the flag of Calian.
The harbor was not large but the two destroyers were soon alongside the dock, quickly tying up one either side of the pier near a similar Frigate to the one that they had passed on route. The Calian and MCF flags continued to fly as Captain Chant, Commander Gunston and four of the destroyer’s security detail disembarked and headed for the castle, with orders to inform Lord Digram, the king’s second son and ruler of this town, of their orders to use the town as a base of operations for the anti-piracy patrols they were to conduct in and around the nearby islands. The three officers walked through the town towards the castle through the maze of streets; they couldn’t help but notice how much they were standing out in their uniforms as they passed through the marketplace.
The contemporary naval crew and Captain Chant’s group looked each other over carefully before continuing on their way without saying a word.
As they reached the castle, they saw soldiers waiting for them by the main gate. Two guards moved aside and a dragon rider stepped forward, having flown from Castle Digram to where he now was to inform the Lord that there would be strangers with almost magical machines operating from his town and that the King wants them to get the best treatment his domain could offer. Lord Digram walked down the stairs from the great hall’s giant wooden doors and stopped near the guards as Captain Chant and his men reached them. The Lord, having been a spoiled child, was used to getting his own way and wanted to see these ‘super ships’ that had arrived in port without the need to use sails.
“Are you the Commander of the strange ships?” the Lord asked Captain Chant, moving close to look the Otter over,” I wish to see your ships, take me to them now.”
Captain Chant looked at Commander Gunston and then back at the Tiger before him,” I’m afraid we have business to conduct here before I can do that. I have a message for you from your father the King.”
He held out the letter and the lord snatched it away, growing noticeably angry as he read it through, for it contained orders for him to turn over command of every warship he possessed to Captain Chant. While he was fuming, he knew better than to go against his father’s orders,” my ships are under your command Captain.”
Chant and Gunston were lead inside the castle by the somewhat defeated Lord who sat down and listened to what the two Officers had in mind for the patrols and, seeing as he was not a naval officer, he conceded to their experience and wisdom in the matter.
After a hurried meeting and a ride to the docks in the Lord’s private carriage, Captain Chant and the other men lead the Tiger up the gangway and onto the armoured deck. Captain Chant turned to the Tiger,” welcome aboard the MCFS Kingston, an Ex-USN Fletcher class destroyer coming up to her 60th birthday. There are newer ships in the fleet but the Kingston and the Crusher can handle a few pirate vessels.”
While the Captain was showing the Lord throughout the ship, Commander Gunston had taken the navigational charts she had been given to the chartroom to begin locating islands and lagoons along the coast where pirates could hide their vessels and take on supplies. The number of potential hiding places was massive, no less than one hundred locations within two days sailing time of the port. Gunston and two of the naval navigators categorised the thirty most likely locations and began drawing up a search pattern that would cover the most amount of ocean in the shortest possible time. Gunston looked at his watch, ‘the third vessel should be arriving soon’ he thought to himself as he stretched his back and went back to work on the plans.
The third vessel, the MCFS Reliant, was a Balao class Diesel Submarine of mid nineteen-forties vintage that had been purchased from the US Navy Mothballed fleet at the same time as the larger vessels of the fleet and had given distinguished service with the USN, the MCF in the South China Sea and now here in another realm. She may have lacked the modern systems on more modern submarines but because she was old she was easier to maintain on the MCF budget.
When Gunston looked up from the map again his watch showed that one and a half hours had passed, and he was due on the bridge in fifteen minutes. He left the navigators to their work and made his way to the bridge.
Captain Chant not only had to show the Lord around the ship, but also some of his naval officers from the two Frigates moored nearby. They seemed to find the destroyer to be, in their eyes at least, a waste of metal and technology that could be used to make many cannons with which to defend their empire. Chant was almost relieved when a message transmitted from the Reliant reached the bridge, indicating that she was only minutes away from entering the harbour. The ability to contact a vessel not in sight in real time was the first time that the naval officers saw something they liked on the Kingston. They enquired if such technology could be applied to their own vessels and were greatly disappointed when they were informed that their vessels did not have the power requirements for the communications equipment. Just then Commander Gunston entered the bridge, followed closely by a female Ensign, which caused an outburst from the contemporary officers.
“A woman!?! You take women to sea? A woman’s place is in the kitchen and the bedchamber, not on board a warship, be gone wench before I throw you from here myself!” one of the lieutenants snarled, causing the Ensign to winch at the lashing she was getting.
The whole bridge seemed to freeze and all eyes were on Captain Chant and Commander Gunston, for they were known not to take that kind of talk lightly, having thrown people from their vessel for the same thing. Tears began to well up in the young Ensigns eyes as the tongue-lashing continued, the fire slowly starting to rise in both Chant and Gunston’s eyes.
“Did you not hear me wench? I’ll help you find your way out!” the Lieutenant snarled as he harshly grabbed the young Ensign’s arm and dragged her towards the rear of the bridge. A handpaw wrapped itself around the captain’s arm. The handpaw belonged to Captain Chant and while the Lieutenant’s attention was fixed on the destroyer’s captain, another handpaw grabbed his other arm, just above the wrist, the pressure for its grip causing him to release the Ensign’s arm.
While the Ensign backed away, the Lieutenant struggled against the grip, to no avail. After a few tense moments Captain Chant’s voice filled the bridge.
“She is a member of my crew and you will treat her with the respect you would expect to be showed to you on, if you can’t do that, it will be you who is removed from this ship” he growled, the anger and sincerity clearly echoing with the words. The Lieutenant shrank back when he was released and stood quietly beside his captain while Captain Chant and Commander Gunston watched the Ensign flee the bridge in fear. This did nothing to improve the two officer’s mood and the altercation had caused the bridge crew to take a disliking to the Lieutenant, looking forward to the time he and his likeminded officers departed the ship.
If it had been up to Commander Gunston, the Lieutenant would have been laid out on the deck already, courtesy of a forty-five, but doing that would have upset the relationship between the two forces. He excused himself and followed the Ensign to her quarters, knocking on the door and gaining permission to enter. He closed the door behind him and he walked over to the bed where the Ensign was sitting in the foetal position. It was known to all her shipmates that she had just returned to work after being raped and beaten by a sexist officer and it was obvious that the Lieutenant that had grabbed her arm had caused all that to come flooding back to her.
Gunston tried to look calm but inside he was hurting, having seen his own sister go through the same thing when she was raped while he was on deployment. He had been transferred home from his deployment when the commanding officer heard what had happened and he spent the two months off tracking down those responsible.
“Cali, are you ok?”
“I’m sorry for my reaction sir” Cali said, the embarrassment showing in her voice,” I shouldn’t have reacted in the way I did.”
Gunston shook his head,” it is completely understandable. Had it been me he would have with a broken nose. Listen, I know what you have been through.”
He told her about his sister and about how she reacted in the same way. When he had finished he smiled reassuringly,” if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to contact me. I think you are very brave coming back to work so soon after what happened.”
“Thank you Commander, I appreciate it”
“No problem, the welfare of those who serve under me is one thing I believe strongly in”
He climbed to his feet and exited the room, closing the door behind himself before heading towards the bridge again desperately hoping that the visitors had departed the ship.
As he walked onto the bridge again, his hopes were dashed as he found that the group were still there, watching the bridge crew go about their duties, the Lieutenant scowling at every female who entered. The other officers held the same beliefs as the Lieutenant but they kept it to themselves, not wanting to look like people not worth protecting.
It was another hour before the group finally departed, save for an ‘observer ‘of the Royal Calian Navy, allowing the two Destroyers to get underway. With the townsfolk looking on, the two ships headed for the harbour mouth, smoke billowing from their funnels. The ‘observer’, a wolf named Crowood, was amazed at the speed the two ships were making and that there was a total absence of the noise he had come to expect from a ship, replaced by a dull thrum of the steam turbine engines.
He stood on the Starboard bridge wing; taking in the way the crew did their work, the unseen forces moving the ship seemed somehow magical. His bright uniform had been of great contrast and had been too inappropriate should a battle ensue.
He fidgeted under the armoured vest and the Kevlar helmet which had replaced his hat and long blue coat and he wondered how anyone could wear such uncomfortable pieces of clothing. The Helmet hurt his ears while the armoured vest felt constrictive compared to his coat but he had been given a safety briefing, had seen the magic images they had displayed on a piece of glass and had decided that he would rather be uncomfortable than dead. He couldn’t get over the quality of the optics these people used, a great leap over the telescopes his own people had access to.
The weather was staring to get rough and the horizon was blurred as the rain started falling heavily. The deck pitched wildly as the swell increased, almost throwing Crowood from his paws but the destroyer crew didn’t have a problem with the pitching. Rain pelted against the windows, the wipers going at full speed, almost futilely. Visibility had dropped to less than twenty metres but the ships plunged onwards, the waves rolling across the deck and breaking over the forward turret. It was a personal heaven for him to be on a ship that was in a storm and to remain dry, even if it was an uncomfortable ride. As Crowood looked at the wall of rain outside the bridge, a thought crossed his mind,” how do you navigate in this weather? What’s to stop you colliding with another vessel or some island?”
The Captain chuckled,” How best to describe it? You ever heard of the ‘all seeing eye’ of legend? That would be an accurate description of the device we have, it cuts through the rain, sleet or the darkness of night and displays a represented on this screen.”
He pointed to the small radar console which was displaying two other dots,” that’s our sister ship, the Crusher, off to our starboard side, the second dot is the MCFS Reliant running awash, lord knows why, maybe the currents are causing her to have trouble maintaining her depth.
As amazing as it seemed, the almost magical device seemed believable after the other devices he had witnessed aboard the Kingston since they left port.
Captain Chant could see that Crowood seemed nervous, as did the less experienced crew members, some on their first real deployment. He decided to take their minds off the weather,” Oh, the year was seventeen seventy eight.....”
The female officer manning the helm smiled,” HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!”
“A letter of marque come from the king, To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,” another crewman at the rear of the bridge sang.
The bridge echoed with the sounds of singing as the crew sang Barrett’s Privateers. It had the desired effect; the crew’s minds were taken off the weather. Even Crowood joined in, even if it was just the chorus towards the end of the song. He couldn’t believe that these people would sing on a ship, which was said to be bad luck in ‘his’ navy. The rain had slackened off and visibility had returned to four hundred metres allowing, for the first time, Crowood to get a direct look at the MCFS Reliant.
Compared to the two Destroyers, he didn’t think the Reliant looked that dangerous. Her decks were almost completely clear, only four weapons being visible, two mounted on the raised section in the centre of the vessel and one fore and aft of the raised section. She rode low in the water compared to the other two ships but she didn’t seem to be damaged or sinking, so he could only decide that it must have been designed that way.
It took a few minutes for the captain to explain what the Reliant’s mission was and how she operated below the surface most of the time. While he only understood about half of what Captain Chant had just told him, he got the feeling that the strange vessel was just as powerful as or more so than the two Destroyers he was riding out the storm on.
“Captain Anthony reports he is ready to submerge and begin his mission” one of the Ensigns near the communications console said suddenly.
“Tell him ‘good hunting’” Captain Chant replied.
“Aye Sir”
Chant turned back to Crowood,” better take a good look at her, you probably won’t see her again for a while.”
Crowood stared at the submarine and watched as something he found strange happened. Bubbles formed around the waterline and it took a few moments for him to realise that the Reliant was getting lower in the water,” they’re sinking?”
“Nope, they are diving” was the reply.
He watched as the main bulk of the Reliant vanished into the sea, her tower vanishing soon afterwards. The only sign that she had ever existed was a rapidly disappearing wake where the boat once was.
Ch.1 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852145
Ch.2 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852148
Ch.3 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852159
Ch.4 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2852172
Ch.5 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2856405
Off the coast of Calia
7.30 AM
Two ancient Fletcher class destroyer of mid-1940s vintage drifted through the morning, it’s mighty engines thumping out across the mild ocean swell. To her old hull was grafted the most modern of fire control, radar, sonar and Phalanx defence system. Despite all the newer weaponry, the MCFS Kingston and the MCFS Crusher, were still aging ladies and had been used as a heavy patrol boat for their entire careers with the MCF, having been purchased from the US Navy mothballed fleet and refurbished ten years prior.
Captain Chant, an Otter, leaned on the railing next to the bridge, staring out over the waves as a magnificent sailing vessel came into view. It’s massive sails billowed and filled the sky as it came near to the two destroyers who couldn’t have been of greater contrast. Captain Chant and his XO, Commander Gunston, another Otter, raised their binoculars to their eyes and surveyed the Frigate as it approached, its name written in gold.
“Vendetta” Captain Chant said as he read the name,” What a name for a ship.”
“Indeed” Cmdr Gunston replied as he lowered his binoculars,” they are flying the flag of Calia so I guess we have to let them pass.”
Captain Chant could see the Captain of the other vessel looking at them through a telescope and could see the confusion and worry on his face as he failed to recognise the two strange, smoke breathing monsters heading towards him. He raised his arm and waved to the captain of the sailing vessel as it drew near, he had to give the captain credit, he was holding his course rather than fleeing from the two destroyers. As evident by this sailing vessel, the people of this realm were ahead in some technologies than they would normally be in this era, Cannons poked from it’s hull sides and were also mounted on the deck, only primitive little cannons but well ahead of their time.
The ship was ahead of its time too, no Frigate in the modern forces timeline would have been built for another one hundred years but these people had them.
The Captain of the Frigate lowered his telescope and waved back, still showing signs of confusion and worry on his face as the vessels passed each other. The Frigates Captain’s face broke into a smile when he saw the Calian flag flying beside the MCF one. The crew started waving and cheering as they now realised that they were not alone it their sea battles against the forces of Lord Biesty. The pirates had been dominating the sea lanes for the last few years and they regularly travelled with Dark Mages onboard, able to call up fierce storms or dead calm weather, causing the King’s navy to become stranded and then become easy pickings. Their vessels were also covered in iron plating that stopped the cannonballs from the Royal Calian Navy cannons.
Captain Chant watched as the Frigate glided by, almost wishing that it was his ship, being an avid believer that the proper way to move a ship was wind and sail rather than steam and diesel propulsion as on the two destroyers. As the Frigate disappeared astern of the Destroyers, the officers returned into the Bridge, Captain Chant returning to his cabin while Commander Gunston took over the duty watch. As Captain Chant walked through the narrow passageways of his sixty plus year old warship, he felt like he was at home. To him the steel walls and deck plating seemed to vibrate life and the gentle thrum of the engines seemed to vibrate from every surface, this was his ship and he was glad it was allowed to have a new lease on life as opposed to being just a patrol ship, it was acting closer to its original wartime role for the first time since it had been struck off.
Chant entered his small cabin, large in its day but smaller than the same cabin on the newer warships. While sometimes he did wish he had something bigger at his command, he knew what the Kingston could do and loved and respected the survivability and the base firepower of this Second World War veteran. The firepower of this aging lady was excellent in it heyday and was still fairly potent n the modern age, made so by the introduction of high tech fire control systems and long range harpoon missiles, as well as two phalanx mounts alongside the main AA battery, still individually manned for challenging smaller boats as well as helicopters. Chant removed his boots and lay down on the bed, quickly falling asleep after his last shift.
On the Bridge, Cmdr Gunston watched through the bridge windows as the seas started to get choppy, nothing the Kingston and the Crusher couldn’t handle, they had sailed through a cyclone and came out unharmed. The old destroyer’s bow sliced smoothly through the waves as it ploughed on towards the horizon, smoke belching from its stacks and spray striking the bridge windows. The two ships were heading for a small port town to conduct anti-piracy patrols and to send a message to any of Lord Biesty’s spies; the Royal Calian Navy will no longer sit idly by and allow his pirate raiders to run rampart, the war had been joined. To be honest, Cmdr Gunston was not expecting any trouble with the contemporary forces, their wooden sailing vessels and flimsy iron plate armour couldn’t hope to sand up to the Harpoon missiles and the five five-inch guns of the main battery.
For the next two hours, everything went smoothly, no contacts on the radar and no serious bad weather either, allowing the ships to steam at their maximum speed and close the distance between the ships and the port fairly rapidly. With no real air threat, the Anti-aircraft gunners were leaning on the railings, waiting for anything interesting to happen to break their growing boredom. As the two ships entered the port of Indos, the world seemed to stop, the locals stoping their current tasks and turning to watch the new arrivals, taking in their great size, their large guns and the strange flag flying beside the flag of Calian.
The harbor was not large but the two destroyers were soon alongside the dock, quickly tying up one either side of the pier near a similar Frigate to the one that they had passed on route. The Calian and MCF flags continued to fly as Captain Chant, Commander Gunston and four of the destroyer’s security detail disembarked and headed for the castle, with orders to inform Lord Digram, the king’s second son and ruler of this town, of their orders to use the town as a base of operations for the anti-piracy patrols they were to conduct in and around the nearby islands. The three officers walked through the town towards the castle through the maze of streets; they couldn’t help but notice how much they were standing out in their uniforms as they passed through the marketplace.
The contemporary naval crew and Captain Chant’s group looked each other over carefully before continuing on their way without saying a word.
As they reached the castle, they saw soldiers waiting for them by the main gate. Two guards moved aside and a dragon rider stepped forward, having flown from Castle Digram to where he now was to inform the Lord that there would be strangers with almost magical machines operating from his town and that the King wants them to get the best treatment his domain could offer. Lord Digram walked down the stairs from the great hall’s giant wooden doors and stopped near the guards as Captain Chant and his men reached them. The Lord, having been a spoiled child, was used to getting his own way and wanted to see these ‘super ships’ that had arrived in port without the need to use sails.
“Are you the Commander of the strange ships?” the Lord asked Captain Chant, moving close to look the Otter over,” I wish to see your ships, take me to them now.”
Captain Chant looked at Commander Gunston and then back at the Tiger before him,” I’m afraid we have business to conduct here before I can do that. I have a message for you from your father the King.”
He held out the letter and the lord snatched it away, growing noticeably angry as he read it through, for it contained orders for him to turn over command of every warship he possessed to Captain Chant. While he was fuming, he knew better than to go against his father’s orders,” my ships are under your command Captain.”
Chant and Gunston were lead inside the castle by the somewhat defeated Lord who sat down and listened to what the two Officers had in mind for the patrols and, seeing as he was not a naval officer, he conceded to their experience and wisdom in the matter.
After a hurried meeting and a ride to the docks in the Lord’s private carriage, Captain Chant and the other men lead the Tiger up the gangway and onto the armoured deck. Captain Chant turned to the Tiger,” welcome aboard the MCFS Kingston, an Ex-USN Fletcher class destroyer coming up to her 60th birthday. There are newer ships in the fleet but the Kingston and the Crusher can handle a few pirate vessels.”
While the Captain was showing the Lord throughout the ship, Commander Gunston had taken the navigational charts she had been given to the chartroom to begin locating islands and lagoons along the coast where pirates could hide their vessels and take on supplies. The number of potential hiding places was massive, no less than one hundred locations within two days sailing time of the port. Gunston and two of the naval navigators categorised the thirty most likely locations and began drawing up a search pattern that would cover the most amount of ocean in the shortest possible time. Gunston looked at his watch, ‘the third vessel should be arriving soon’ he thought to himself as he stretched his back and went back to work on the plans.
The third vessel, the MCFS Reliant, was a Balao class Diesel Submarine of mid nineteen-forties vintage that had been purchased from the US Navy Mothballed fleet at the same time as the larger vessels of the fleet and had given distinguished service with the USN, the MCF in the South China Sea and now here in another realm. She may have lacked the modern systems on more modern submarines but because she was old she was easier to maintain on the MCF budget.
When Gunston looked up from the map again his watch showed that one and a half hours had passed, and he was due on the bridge in fifteen minutes. He left the navigators to their work and made his way to the bridge.
Captain Chant not only had to show the Lord around the ship, but also some of his naval officers from the two Frigates moored nearby. They seemed to find the destroyer to be, in their eyes at least, a waste of metal and technology that could be used to make many cannons with which to defend their empire. Chant was almost relieved when a message transmitted from the Reliant reached the bridge, indicating that she was only minutes away from entering the harbour. The ability to contact a vessel not in sight in real time was the first time that the naval officers saw something they liked on the Kingston. They enquired if such technology could be applied to their own vessels and were greatly disappointed when they were informed that their vessels did not have the power requirements for the communications equipment. Just then Commander Gunston entered the bridge, followed closely by a female Ensign, which caused an outburst from the contemporary officers.
“A woman!?! You take women to sea? A woman’s place is in the kitchen and the bedchamber, not on board a warship, be gone wench before I throw you from here myself!” one of the lieutenants snarled, causing the Ensign to winch at the lashing she was getting.
The whole bridge seemed to freeze and all eyes were on Captain Chant and Commander Gunston, for they were known not to take that kind of talk lightly, having thrown people from their vessel for the same thing. Tears began to well up in the young Ensigns eyes as the tongue-lashing continued, the fire slowly starting to rise in both Chant and Gunston’s eyes.
“Did you not hear me wench? I’ll help you find your way out!” the Lieutenant snarled as he harshly grabbed the young Ensign’s arm and dragged her towards the rear of the bridge. A handpaw wrapped itself around the captain’s arm. The handpaw belonged to Captain Chant and while the Lieutenant’s attention was fixed on the destroyer’s captain, another handpaw grabbed his other arm, just above the wrist, the pressure for its grip causing him to release the Ensign’s arm.
While the Ensign backed away, the Lieutenant struggled against the grip, to no avail. After a few tense moments Captain Chant’s voice filled the bridge.
“She is a member of my crew and you will treat her with the respect you would expect to be showed to you on, if you can’t do that, it will be you who is removed from this ship” he growled, the anger and sincerity clearly echoing with the words. The Lieutenant shrank back when he was released and stood quietly beside his captain while Captain Chant and Commander Gunston watched the Ensign flee the bridge in fear. This did nothing to improve the two officer’s mood and the altercation had caused the bridge crew to take a disliking to the Lieutenant, looking forward to the time he and his likeminded officers departed the ship.
If it had been up to Commander Gunston, the Lieutenant would have been laid out on the deck already, courtesy of a forty-five, but doing that would have upset the relationship between the two forces. He excused himself and followed the Ensign to her quarters, knocking on the door and gaining permission to enter. He closed the door behind him and he walked over to the bed where the Ensign was sitting in the foetal position. It was known to all her shipmates that she had just returned to work after being raped and beaten by a sexist officer and it was obvious that the Lieutenant that had grabbed her arm had caused all that to come flooding back to her.
Gunston tried to look calm but inside he was hurting, having seen his own sister go through the same thing when she was raped while he was on deployment. He had been transferred home from his deployment when the commanding officer heard what had happened and he spent the two months off tracking down those responsible.
“Cali, are you ok?”
“I’m sorry for my reaction sir” Cali said, the embarrassment showing in her voice,” I shouldn’t have reacted in the way I did.”
Gunston shook his head,” it is completely understandable. Had it been me he would have with a broken nose. Listen, I know what you have been through.”
He told her about his sister and about how she reacted in the same way. When he had finished he smiled reassuringly,” if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to contact me. I think you are very brave coming back to work so soon after what happened.”
“Thank you Commander, I appreciate it”
“No problem, the welfare of those who serve under me is one thing I believe strongly in”
He climbed to his feet and exited the room, closing the door behind himself before heading towards the bridge again desperately hoping that the visitors had departed the ship.
As he walked onto the bridge again, his hopes were dashed as he found that the group were still there, watching the bridge crew go about their duties, the Lieutenant scowling at every female who entered. The other officers held the same beliefs as the Lieutenant but they kept it to themselves, not wanting to look like people not worth protecting.
It was another hour before the group finally departed, save for an ‘observer ‘of the Royal Calian Navy, allowing the two Destroyers to get underway. With the townsfolk looking on, the two ships headed for the harbour mouth, smoke billowing from their funnels. The ‘observer’, a wolf named Crowood, was amazed at the speed the two ships were making and that there was a total absence of the noise he had come to expect from a ship, replaced by a dull thrum of the steam turbine engines.
He stood on the Starboard bridge wing; taking in the way the crew did their work, the unseen forces moving the ship seemed somehow magical. His bright uniform had been of great contrast and had been too inappropriate should a battle ensue.
He fidgeted under the armoured vest and the Kevlar helmet which had replaced his hat and long blue coat and he wondered how anyone could wear such uncomfortable pieces of clothing. The Helmet hurt his ears while the armoured vest felt constrictive compared to his coat but he had been given a safety briefing, had seen the magic images they had displayed on a piece of glass and had decided that he would rather be uncomfortable than dead. He couldn’t get over the quality of the optics these people used, a great leap over the telescopes his own people had access to.
The weather was staring to get rough and the horizon was blurred as the rain started falling heavily. The deck pitched wildly as the swell increased, almost throwing Crowood from his paws but the destroyer crew didn’t have a problem with the pitching. Rain pelted against the windows, the wipers going at full speed, almost futilely. Visibility had dropped to less than twenty metres but the ships plunged onwards, the waves rolling across the deck and breaking over the forward turret. It was a personal heaven for him to be on a ship that was in a storm and to remain dry, even if it was an uncomfortable ride. As Crowood looked at the wall of rain outside the bridge, a thought crossed his mind,” how do you navigate in this weather? What’s to stop you colliding with another vessel or some island?”
The Captain chuckled,” How best to describe it? You ever heard of the ‘all seeing eye’ of legend? That would be an accurate description of the device we have, it cuts through the rain, sleet or the darkness of night and displays a represented on this screen.”
He pointed to the small radar console which was displaying two other dots,” that’s our sister ship, the Crusher, off to our starboard side, the second dot is the MCFS Reliant running awash, lord knows why, maybe the currents are causing her to have trouble maintaining her depth.
As amazing as it seemed, the almost magical device seemed believable after the other devices he had witnessed aboard the Kingston since they left port.
Captain Chant could see that Crowood seemed nervous, as did the less experienced crew members, some on their first real deployment. He decided to take their minds off the weather,” Oh, the year was seventeen seventy eight.....”
The female officer manning the helm smiled,” HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!”
“A letter of marque come from the king, To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,” another crewman at the rear of the bridge sang.
The bridge echoed with the sounds of singing as the crew sang Barrett’s Privateers. It had the desired effect; the crew’s minds were taken off the weather. Even Crowood joined in, even if it was just the chorus towards the end of the song. He couldn’t believe that these people would sing on a ship, which was said to be bad luck in ‘his’ navy. The rain had slackened off and visibility had returned to four hundred metres allowing, for the first time, Crowood to get a direct look at the MCFS Reliant.
Compared to the two Destroyers, he didn’t think the Reliant looked that dangerous. Her decks were almost completely clear, only four weapons being visible, two mounted on the raised section in the centre of the vessel and one fore and aft of the raised section. She rode low in the water compared to the other two ships but she didn’t seem to be damaged or sinking, so he could only decide that it must have been designed that way.
It took a few minutes for the captain to explain what the Reliant’s mission was and how she operated below the surface most of the time. While he only understood about half of what Captain Chant had just told him, he got the feeling that the strange vessel was just as powerful as or more so than the two Destroyers he was riding out the storm on.
“Captain Anthony reports he is ready to submerge and begin his mission” one of the Ensigns near the communications console said suddenly.
“Tell him ‘good hunting’” Captain Chant replied.
“Aye Sir”
Chant turned back to Crowood,” better take a good look at her, you probably won’t see her again for a while.”
Crowood stared at the submarine and watched as something he found strange happened. Bubbles formed around the waterline and it took a few moments for him to realise that the Reliant was getting lower in the water,” they’re sinking?”
“Nope, they are diving” was the reply.
He watched as the main bulk of the Reliant vanished into the sea, her tower vanishing soon afterwards. The only sign that she had ever existed was a rapidly disappearing wake where the boat once was.
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 47.5 kB
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